oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Hi,
My old P4 machine (that I passed onto my GF's daughter) looks to have given up the ghost. Basically last night when she went to shut down, it went to power off and started making the oddest clicking sound. In the end I had to pull the power lead only to find this morning it wouldnt power back up! In the end I got it to power up by holding in the power button. I ran a disk check which came back fine.
I returned home tonight to be told that it had again refused to power down, now I cant get it back on at all.

Does anyone have any suggestions...... not just how to fix it, but of any cheap deals on towers at the moment :-P

Thanks in advance,

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Sounds like it might just be the switch on the case....but wait for God Zingle to reply! ;)

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

have a look in event view 9honest not my answer to everything but a good place to start :) )

event viewer
start -> settings -> Control panel -> Administrative tools - Event viewer
(or start run eventvwr)
that's XP
Vista it looks different, but in a similar place!

Could be a hardware or software reason for it not shutting down. Ticking could be hard disk (event viewer may suggest that) or PSU , which event viewer wouldn't really no about but would explain starting up problem.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

It sounds like you may have more than one issue:

The "clicking" sound is likely down to the hard drive. if the clicking is lound and rythmic e.g. a single click repeating would likely be a sign of hard disk failure. If the clicking sounds like a bee in a matchbox (random but intense) then it could just as well be a sofware issue as hardware.

If the issue were the power button then it would still shutdown so I'm not convinced about that one. It would prevent power up though so it's possible that it's broken though not likely. The fact you powered up by holding in the button is intriguing as the reverse is usually true, hence my comment that it could be broken.

I agree with the last post concerning the event viewer, which "should" give an indication of why you couldn't shut-down. my money is on a process or service which is not giving up its resources. In both XP and Vista you can take a look by running eventvwr.exe command (actually runs eventvwr.msc). I post "should" as in these cases this is more "gives hope".

As to your query regarding cheap deals on towers it looks as though you really don't want to spend hours trying to fix the problem, personally and I know this may be considered controversial but I would suggest Dell. Depending upon your budget even if you buy a reeeeally basic box you get a cracking case.

In both cases though I would suggest copying any valuable data somewhere else somehow as the integrity of you drive has not been verified. chkdsk verifies the NTFS structure not drive integrity.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Hi guys,
Thanks for your answers BUT I just just plugged is in and well... I think the loud 'pop' followed by the lovely electrical smell from the back of the power supply/fan might have just be a large hint :-P

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Clicking is quite often from the PSU having a fault.
I have had 2 do this in the last 3 weeks replacing is easy and can be quite cheap. Although a slightly more expensive one will be more reliable.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Do you have any advice as to where I can pick one up and how I go about finding which one I require?

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Whats the make, model and etc?

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

I apologise if only I find this funny but you quote above really does suggest spending a little more money :)

I would normally expect the PSU clicking to manifest as a buzzing??? I haven't had one blow to this exteme and would apreciate knowing which PSU's to avoid.

I have seen PSU's blowing in vast numbers of MESH computers, I didn't buy them, I would not go near MESH unless they were the only supplier of PC's and it was impossible to source my own parts. However this was without the Clicking, popping yes!

In my experience aria.co.uk are excellent they don't stock total crap and are reasonable. dabs used to be good about 5 years ago but their prices for even basic stuff started to increase a lot so I haven't used them for a while but I haven't been back either so they may well be a good source. They are certainly reputable. I could quote many sites but my personal fave is aria so I'll stoip there for a bit.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Anything around 400Watts and upwards should be fine for a Pentium4.

Depending on if you want to invest much money in this system, a Seasonic power supply is rock solid.
If you just need something to get you going again then any power supply above £25 should do.

If that is still too much a cheap as chips power supply can be bought for about £10 but the quality is not guarenteed to be much good.

Let's hope the supply didnt short your other components. If it was a newish computer with a decent power supply it should have had some protection circuits built in.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

It could have been the fan making a clicking sound and system will freeze on a screen and not switch off if overheating until it goes pop I have seen this on many occasions out in the field.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

You miss understand me my friend.;)
I build and fix computers for family and friends. :)

These were both bought systems from well known manufacturers that had fitted cheap units to save on building costs.

(Evesham and Mesh)

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Ahh in this context you could indeed be correct as the type of clicking has never been explained/substantiated.

The problem then left is why the user could not power the usit on from cold.

---------- Post added at 21:32 ---------- Previous post was at 21:26 ----------

Sorry does this post suggest you were building systems based up Evesham and Mesh?

I submit that being "well known" does not mean good.... Evesham is another of my Hated PC's they make nothing either of them, they complile cheap and crap systems from unverified sources.

Please tell me this is not the case?

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

OP says in post 1 Then 2 people in posts 3 and 4 endorse a visit to Event Viewer How? the pc wont start lol hehehehehehehe

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

No it means I was fixing them when they had broken.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

I don't think that you read the post properly, it did power on after holding in the power button.

Now, it doesn't power up after posts 2 & 3 if you want to pitch you are welcome but if you are here to ridicule based upon an incorrect version of the post then please kindly leave.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Think the highlighted line is pretty clear ;)

Do not need to pitch the psu has blew obviously it was that all along. If the op intends a new machine in the near future I would advise a cheap PSU as a replacement if he intends to keep it awhile I would advise a branded one

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

The clicking is usauly not a fan but something due to the failure of the PSU suplying enough power to maintain the operation of the system.
I have never found out exactly what it is that clicks. (maybe some sort of failsafe to prevent further damage)

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Fair enough, supports my argument against them and explains the problems that you have seen.

I take it they were bought by friends and family against your better judgement. :)

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

I think you will find that Zing is regarded as a computer meister, so please do not continue in this fashion.

---------- Post added at 21:44 ---------- Previous post was at 21:43 ----------

They were bought from reputable retailers a few years ago and were out of waranty

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

OEMs always have to cut corners to compete. When I spec a machine I often inform the customer on reliability of cheap psus. If they do not want to spend 50 quid plus on a good one then they have at least been informed of the risks. A friend of mine went off to pc world (spit) and bought a cheap laptop last week. It was running Vista basic and only had 512 meg of ram . Needless to say it ran like a bag of poop

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Amdittedly I might have assumed that it wasn't a lost cause. Apologies I commited the crime of reading too quickly :)

However my point stands that it looked as though ridicule were the heart of the post not humour and accept any "Public" challenge to oppose rather than private. You know what I mean!

In my defence are my professional credentials required to prove my IT posts are valid and qualified???

If so I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

---------- Post added at 22:20 ---------- Previous post was at 22:18 ----------

I accept you comments though in my experience,

Evesham + Mesh + Out of Warranty = Total Mess

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Dude I come late to the pc building business and only started in 99 . Am am now a system builder of some repute in my local area and my posts on this forum speak for themselves when it comes to offering support on these forums. I am sure you have the abilty to offer a lot of help here but you let the fact we had a run in before cloud your judgement as it was only meant in humour. I have made countless faupars we are all only human ;)

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Now that I agree with :D

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Have a check of the motherboard before you go buying a new PSU - bad capacitors on the motherboard can often cause the PSU to fail.

Have a read of http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

All please note that as a poster my anonymity, I wish personally it remain that way. I respect and wish everyone to have their own experience known and respected and hope everyone else here does as well. The anonymity gives everyone credence and I accept others comments may differ from my own and accept any challenge if there is one. I will also challenge if I believe you are wrong it is you duty to prove me wrong in return. I hope no one will claim ownership of some area of discussion as we are all anonymous (so far) it would be unfair to unmask everyone and start lending extra weight to some opinions and examples because of credentials. In this regard I hope the forum will continue, I will confirm only that I work in IT that is enough to make sure that I know a "bit". Is all....

---------- Post added at 23:40 ---------- Previous post was at 23:38 ----------

Thanks, I wasn't arguing with you.. Experience is a great teacher :D

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

although the OP looks to have the answers sought, my 2 peenies forth is that you will get what you pay for. it's not always the best plan to look for a cheap fix, as inevitably, you'll end up needing to fix it again.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Wow all this 'hoo haa' over a nicnacked PSU.

Whilst I appreciate all the varied answers, there is no need for a handbag match to break out. Get rubbing those lobes and repeat after me '.... woooo saaaaah..'

Joking aside - rather than replace the power supply on what was a rather ancient machine, I coughed up £200 and blagged a decent Packard Bell machine (minus a monitor) out of the business dept at *cough splutter swear* PC world.

You can wangle some seriously decent deals out of them at the moment, what with their parent company looking a bit wobbly at the moment.

Re: oops I think my PC died :-(
 

Trouble is some of our handbags have bricks in them :D

I apologise for complicating this thread, slight grudge match which should not have occurred. I'll try to be more :angel: in future.

Love the little guy on your signature takes a little while to watch everything he does but kept me amused.

---------- Post added at 20:52 ---------- Previous post was at 20:49 ----------

'.... woooo saaaaah..'

you're right I feel much better :D